Something Commercial...

Something Old...

90’s US alt rock 3 piece Semisonic are a band I’d almost forgotten about until their music was heavily involved in the plotline of a rom-com I watched with the other half over the weekend, ‘Friends with Benefits’ sandwiched between a Captain America and Hulk movie marathon. Needless to say it made the film bearable for me, even though I secretly enjoyed it truth be told...Mila Kunis is one fine piece of ass!.

 

Probably best known for the singles ‘Closing Time’, ‘Secret Smile’ and ‘Singing in my Sleep’ from their 1998 breakthru album ‘Feeling Strangely Fine’ or the fantastic single ‘Chemistry’ from their final album ‘All about Chemistry’ in 2001 before fading into obscurity.

For me though its there lesser known debut album, 96’s the ‘Great Divide’ that is there best work. Alongside the brilliant pop rock tracks ‘Delicious’ and ‘Down in Flames’ is the brilliant love song ‘F.N.T’, as featured in my girlfriends favourite movie “10 things I hate about you”, enjoy.... 

 

Something New...

I’m not one for buying into a band for hype that is produced following a big debut single and I tend to wait until I get a chance to hear the rest of the album before passing comment. 

 

You will most probably recognise LA’s indie/electronic Foster the People’s debut single from various soundtracks and TV adverts such as O2. But if you haven’t I can assure you they are definitely worth a listen if you like the commercial surf rock vibe of bands like Aussie bands Temper Trap and Empire of the Sun.

The band got there break after with a standout performances on the Hype Machine and at US festival SxSW and since then have been branding with the tag as the US’s next big thing. The bands debut album ‘Torches’ was released at the end of May this year and alongside ‘Pumped up Kicks’ is the fantastic ‘Houdini’, ‘Call It What You want’ and the brilliant new single, with a fantastic max max inspired video, ‘Helena Beat’...

 

Something Borrowed...

I was really excited following the Vaccines debut single ‘Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ that has vibes Ramones-esque 70’s punk meets modern pop. I was however, very put off them after hearing the moany, dreary, dare I say Coldplay/Editor’s-esque follow up single ‘Post Break Up Sex’ and therefore skipped the album ‘What did you expect from...’ when it was released in March. The album includes some top tracks such as 'If you wanna' and the brilliant 'Norgaard'.

Shooting to fame last year with the advantage of having a brother in the Horrors and showbiz links galore selling out gigs on their debut tour; to audiences that included members of White Lies and the Maccabees, it only makes sense that they would cover pop diva Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday night’, and for some reason it works...

 

Something Blue...

The Cure headline the last big official summer festival this weekend, Bestival;  falling into this weeks something blue for 2 reasons, 1. Its rumored to be there last ever live performance and 2. I’m not going to be there :(
They are, in my opinion one of the greatest bands in music history, the band has experienced several line-up changes over the years, with front man, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member.

 

The Cure first began releasing music in the late 70s with its debut album ‘Three Imaginary Boys’. This album, along with the single ‘Boys don’t cry’ and ‘A forest’ from there 2^nd album, placed the band as part of the post punk new wave movement.  In the 80’s they moved into a more gothic phase following the release of ‘Pornography’ in 82 and Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired. With the 1982 singles ‘Let’s Go to bed’ and ‘Love Cats’ Smith began to place a pop sensibility into the band's music as well as a unique stage image. The Cure released thirteen studio albums and over thirty singles during the course of their career, with their popularity increasing as the 80’s wore on, helped by genius tracks such as ‘Just like Heaven’, 'In Between Days', 'Burn', 'Freakshow', 'Pictures of You', 'Friday, I’m in Love’, the haunting 'End of the World' and possibly my favourite track ever written, the beautiful 'Close to Me'...